Cavalier (vectra) owner from the Netherlands

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bouwt
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 10:56 am
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Cavalier (vectra) owner from the Netherlands

Post by bouwt »

Hi guys,

I am so glad I googled "Vauxhall Cavalier mk3" instead of "opel vectra A", since that brought to this awesome forum.
My name is Maarten, I am 24yo and live in the Netherlands. Recently got a job which meant: time to get my first car.
I always enjoyed driving my dad's Ascona (Cav mk2) from '87, so started looking for something similar. Powered steering was a demand, so I slowly found myself looking at vectra A's. I started to like the the looks of these cars, combined with their (still) easy to work on 8-valve engines.
Some searching resulted in me buying a 1995 Vectra A LS saloon, with the C18NZ engine. Only 80,000km's(50,000miles) on the clock. No air conditioning, but the sunroof will make up for that partly.

The bodywork is a bit rough, but that makes me not afraid to use what it was built for: putting miles on it. Technically it's been well maintained!
As soon as I found this forum I cleaned out the elephant trunk and checked my sunroof drainage. ;) Yesterday I found some original wheel caps and installed an electric antennae.

I plan on riding this baby for many years, upgrading it bit by bit (mainly in luxury). Suggestions for must-have alterations are welcome.
I did notice that getting the gear box in 2nd and reverse happens not real smooth, but I believe there is also a fix for that on this forum!

Don't have good pictures, yet, hope this picture link below works (changed those wheel caps, they just don't look right on the car, I think)
Image

Cheers,

Maarten
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Robsey
Club Admin
Posts: 10569
Joined: Fri Dec 12, 2008 1:42 pm
Location: East Manchester

Re: Cavalier (vectra) owner from the Netherlands

Post by Robsey »

Hi Maarten,
Welcome aboard :wave

The gear linkage thing, I think is buried in a Work In Progress thread.
But it is discussed on here a few times.

Try here -

viewtopic.php?f=70&t=5156


Must have upgrades -
Variable - Omega wiper delay.
Omega - One touch electric sun roof.
Or Calibra electric sunroof.
GSi fuel computer
Calibra oil and volt gauges.
Electric aerial.
Upholstery changes. Diplomat leather seats etc.
Rear electric windows
Omega or Vectra-b cruise control
Vectra-b steering wheel with radio controls
Angel Eye or Morette headlamps.
5 stud wheel conversion
Rear disc brake conversion.

You can virtually fit anything from a higher specification Vectra-a and many parts from calibra, Vectra-b, Omega-b and Astra f or g.

More technically challenging could be a digital dash conversion.
Kadett E is a lot more involved with cutting up the instrument panel and fitting a speed transducer.
In mainland Europe they had a Vectra A digital instrument panel. These are very very expensive. About 400€ on average.

And I am sure that there are many more upgrade possibilities.

Just for completeness, the picture link does not work - I just get 'image' .
bouwt
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 10:56 am
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Re: Cavalier (vectra) owner from the Netherlands

Post by bouwt »

Hi Robsey,

Thanks for your message. I am going to give the gear linkage fix a try soon. Found some Vectras on a local junkyard with some extras on it (sport seats and such), so plenty of resources.
Robsey wrote:GSi fuel computer
Have not heard of this before, can I simply change the "ECU" box to a GSi type, also on the 1.8 engine? Is there a topic for that?

Hoping this link will work:
Image

No rust, just dirty in the picture. Actually it is, miraculously, completely rust-free.
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Robsey
Club Admin
Posts: 10569
Joined: Fri Dec 12, 2008 1:42 pm
Location: East Manchester

Re: Cavalier (vectra) owner from the Netherlands

Post by Robsey »

No need to change any ecu's.
The fuel computer is the display that fits where you time clock currently sits.
iangsi
Club Admin
Posts: 1709
Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2010 4:58 pm
Location: Bromley, Kent.

Re: Cavalier (vectra) owner from the Netherlands

Post by iangsi »

Hello & Welcome :wave
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ilovedmymantas
Registered user
Posts: 1201
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 2:54 am

Re: Cavalier (vectra) owner from the Netherlands

Post by ilovedmymantas »

Hi & welcome :wave
" It's not rust. It's age-related patina " ;)

1980 vauxhall cavalier MK1 1.6L, 1982 opel manta berlinetta 1.8s, 1985 opel manta 2.0 gte, 1990 cavalier 2.0 gl ,1994 cavalier sri x20xev

-1995 cdx x20xev

---------------
Matt
cavalier1990
Registered user
Posts: 1460
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 9:15 pm
Location: Paisley, Scotland

Re: Cavalier (vectra) owner from the Netherlands

Post by cavalier1990 »

bouwt wrote:Hi guys,

I am so glad I googled "Vauxhall Cavalier mk3" instead of "opel vectra A", since that brought to this awesome forum.
My name is Maarten, I am 24yo and live in the Netherlands. Recently got a job which meant: time to get my first car.
I always enjoyed driving my dad's Ascona (Cav mk2) from '87, so started looking for something similar. Powered steering was a demand, so I slowly found myself looking at vectra A's. I started to like the the looks of these cars, combined with their (still) easy to work on 8-valve engines.
Some searching resulted in me buying a 1995 Vectra A LS saloon, with the C18NZ engine. Only 80,000km's(50,000miles) on the clock. No air conditioning, but the sunroof will make up for that partly.

The bodywork is a bit rough, but that makes me not afraid to use what it was built for: putting miles on it. Technically it's been well maintained!
As soon as I found this forum I cleaned out the elephant trunk and checked my sunroof drainage. ;) Yesterday I found some original wheel caps and installed an electric antennae.

I plan on riding this baby for many years, upgrading it bit by bit (mainly in luxury). Suggestions for must-have alterations are welcome.
I did notice that getting the gear box in 2nd and reverse happens not real smooth, but I believe there is also a fix for that on this forum!

Don't have good pictures, yet, hope this picture link below works (changed those wheel caps, they just don't look right on the car, I think)
[ Image ]

Cheers,

Maarten
Hi Maarten

Good to see another cavalier/vectra owner from Mainland Europe. Yours looks like a good example, hope your gear linkage is in a easy fix; likely it is sign of maybe a small part worn if you have slopiness and hard to select gears in the gear linkage. I had just rebuilt the linkage mechanism inside the engine bay on my 1.8, which never really solved the problem, it only made the problem "feel" better. I had partial success for a few weeks by putting a screw into the linkage pin to take the slack out of it. The thing that actually properly fixed it was the rubber bush on the gearstick, which is between gearstick and the long selector rod, you might want to pop up the gearstick boot and check how much it free plays side to side.

As soon as I found this forum I cleaned out the elephant trunk and checked my sunroof drainage. ;) Yesterday I found some original wheel caps and installed an electric antennae.

Also clean out the mud and dirt from under the rear arch lips and up under where the tank filler is. This helps delay/stop any rust on your wheelarches and stops the tank filler hole rotting out.

Looking forward to seeing more pics and hope you enjoy the drive!
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